CuraGen drops mucositis drug on poor trial data

Connecticut, USA-based CuraGen, an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, says it is discontinuing development of its severe oral mucositis treatment velafermin, after it failed to achieve primary efficacy endpoints in a Phase II study.

CuraGen explained that the trial, known as CLN-12, had been designed to assess velafermin's impact on the incidence of severe oral mucositis in patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy. The drug failed to cut the rate of the condition in comparison with placebo.

Company president Timothy Shannon said that the firm was disappointed with the result, but added that abandoning velafermin would allow it to refocus its development efforts on belinostat, its histone deacetylase inhibitor, which is currently in Phase II trials for the treatment of solid tumors. Mr Shannon also said that the antibody-based metastatic melanoma drug candidate CR011-vcMMAE, which has achieved favorable results in Phase I/II studies, will be discussed at upcoming scientific conferences, ahead of the scheduled initiation of Phase III assessments early next year.